Shifting Tides
by dip-the-snowfish
Summary: GSR. Grissom must learn to be there when Sara needs him, whilst all the time feeling guilty that he is the cause of her accident. Only time will tell whether her accident will pull them closer together or push them further apart.
1. Chapter 1

Hi everyone! Ok so here's my new story,I know this chap is short but the others'll be longer,I promise! Ummm. ObviouslyI don't own CSI,I highly doubt id be wasting time writing fanfics rather than making this stuff happen ifI did! R&R, Critisism isfantastic but no flames please. Thanks! Oh, andI apologise in advance for any spelling/grammar mistakes!

* * *

She was bending down, with her back to him, and he couldn't stop himself from looking at her ass. It was perfectly shaped and rounded, a work of art really. He shook himself and went back to the evidence collection, smirking. It was the last time he would smile in a very long time. "Will you be okay here for twenty minutes? I'm just gonna go give this blood sample from the knife to Greg. Priority One."

"Yeah, I'll be fine."

He paused hesitantly in the door, remembering back to Holly Gribbs… but that was a long time ago. _'Stop worrying Gil, she'll be fine.'_ "Okay then, I'll be right back." He paused again in the door.

"Grissom, go already!"

He walked out of the crime scene and down the two flights of stairs to the bottom of the apartment building, leaving Sara to finish the evidence collection. He got into the Tahoe and drove back to the lab, humming as he went.

Twenty minutes later, Grissom screeched the car to a stop, jumped out, and ran towards a grave looking Brass. "What happened?" he demanded.

"Gil…" Brass began hesitantly…

The growing weight of dread in Grissom's stomach was too much to ignore, as it grew from a stone to the size of a brick. "Jim… where's Sara?" he asked, interrupting the other man in mid sentence.

"Gil…the neighbour called 911. She said she heard breaking glass and so she ran outside and found…"

Grissom looked up to see what was left of the 10 metre high window of the room… the room Sara had been in. "Jim…where is she?" he asked again. Slowly, Brass pointed to the ambulance. Without another thought, Grissom ran to straight to the ambulance doors, but there, he stopped. He was afraid. He knew that whatever he was about to see, it wouldn't be good. He took a deep breath and looked inside, then immediately regretted it. Lying on the stretcher was someone who _could _have been Sara, but he couldn't be sure. There was blood everywhere. It didn't look like she was conscious. From the position of her left leg he knew it must have been broken, and there was a deep, long gash that ran all the way down her left arm. There were scratches and bruises all over the right side of her body and face, and there were… '_shit!' Oh my god what happened to her'_ He started to tremble. There were hand prints showing up as bruises on either side of her neck. She was gasping for air, and her whole body was trembling. He couldn't tear his eyes away. The he noticed the other people. There were people everywhere, surrounding her. They were all busy and looking extremely grave. They were cleaning the cuts on her body; two was placing her leg in a temporary splint, one was taking her blood pressure, another was studying one of the machines they had hooked up to her, searching for even the smallest blemish that showed a problem. He thought it was the one that measured heartbeat, but his vision was now so blurred that he couldn't be sure. He knew this was his fault, he shouldn't have left her, but before he could do anything, a pair of hands clapped down on his shoulders and steered him away to a bench. They sat down and Catherine hugged him. He slumped onto her shoulder and for the first time in forty years, Gil Grissom cried.

* * *

**A/N -** I know that it's not realistic to have Grissom leaving the scene to deliver a single piece of evidence, but it was the best way to have him gone for a significant amount of time, so ifI irritated anyone, i'm sorry! 


	2. Chapter 2

Heres the next chap. sorry it took so long, but i decided to write the rest of the story (except for the ending) before i continued. Read and Review!

Nothing is mine, as always

* * *

When he woke up, he found himself in his bed, at his townhouse, which was normal. What was not normal was the dead feeling inside of him, nor the fact that he was still in his clothes from the day before. He dragged himself out of bed, took some medicine for a migraine he _knew_ was on the way, and had a shower. Half an hour later, he was walking out the door, when he walked into…Sara? "What are you doing here?" he asked in bewilderment.

"I came to see if you were okay"

"Aren't you meant to be at the hospital?"

"No, why would I be there? Grissom…are you okay?"

"Sara, you're meant to be…"

"Whoa there! Did you just call me Sara?" Gil shook his head, and saw not Sara standing in front of him but…

"Grissom, I think you're a bit confused" Catherine said in a soothing voice. "Lets go and sit down inside" She then steered him firmly into the house and sat him down on the couch.

"Catherine, I thought you were Sara. I'm really sorr…"

"I figured" came the dry retort, cutting him off.

"How did I get back here last night?"

"Don't you remember?" Grissom shook his head "Oh! Well, you just sat there in shock and we figured that the best place for you was at home, so I drove you back and brought you inside. You went straight to bed and I left"

"How's Sara?"

"Grissom" Catherine said in a soft voice "She's…not doing very well"

"Is she going to be okay?" Came the slightly desperate question. Catherine sighed to herself before answering.

"They're not sure. They need to wait for her to stabilise before they can say" Grissom groaned inwardly to himself, and slumped forward in his seat.

"Catherine, this is my fault. If I hadn't left her…what happened to her?" Came the suddenly sharp question. Catherine sighed again.

"We don't know. Best we can guess is the perp came back to clean up the scene, and Sara was still there, so he attacked her. We figure there was probably a struggle, and that's how she ended up coming through the window. By the time Brass got there, the ambulance was already getting her sorted."

"How come Jim didn't call me" Grissom asked with a frown.

"I think he tried. He paged you too. You were probably already on the way back to the scene when he phoned though, you only arrived five minutes after he did. He called me too, and by the time I got there you were standing at the door of the ambulance. The ambulance left only a few minutes after us. It couldn't leave straight away because they had to stabilise her condition a bit before they could move her. She was unconscious. Still is I think."

"I don't remember"

"You were in shock I think. Come on, have a coffee, and then we can go to the hospital together. That's where you were headed right?" Grissom nodded again in response.

"Okay, well drink up, and then we'll go." Unable to utter a single word, he just grunted. Catherine took that for a yes, and went to make the coffee.

Twenty minutes later, Catherine and Grissom walked into the emergency room and straight away a young woman came up to them. She wasn't smiling.

"Are you here to see Miss Sidle?"

"Yes" Catherine answered her. "How did you know?"

"A gentleman called Mr Brass was here about half an hour ago, and he said it was likely that you would be coming"

"Oh"

"You're Miss Sidle's family, I presume?" Catherine had just opened her mouth to speak when Grissom tightly nodded his head.

"Okay, if you'll follow me, then I'll take you to see Dr Newing" The three of them walked down a few corridors before stopped outside a door marked 'Dr Patricia Newing'. The nurse knocked and opened the door.

"Miss Sidle's family to see you"

"Thank you Elle, I'll see them now"

Grissom walked in to the room and shook hands with another woman. This woman wasn't smiling either.

"My name is Patricia. Please sit down" The woman said curtly, looking at Grissom. Grissom however, seemed incapable of even a single word at the moment, so Catherine extended her hand.

"Catherine Willows, and this is Gil Grissom" She said in a polite voice.

"I'll get straight to the point folks. Miss Sidle's chances are not good. Not good at all. If she doesn't stabilise within the next twelve hours then there's very little chance for her at all. I…"

"Can I see her?" A quiet voice interrupted. The woman looked at Grissom, then slowly shook her head.

"No, I'm afraid not. She is not yet stable enough. If she improves over the next twenty four hours, then you may be able to see her." At this, Grissom had had enough. He stood up, and walked out of the office. Once outside however, he slumped down on the floor and let the tears come. Catherine came out of the office and sat down next to him, knowing better than to try and calm him down. Once he finally gained control of himself, and Catherine led him out into the waiting room, where together they would spend at least the next twelve hours, maybe longer.

"Are you okay" She asked tentatively.

"Not really. Catherine, this is all my fault. If I hadn't left her then she'd still be okay. If I had waited for her to finish the evidence collection, and not been impatient, then she'd still be here with us."

"Grissom, don't beat yourself up. You had no way of knowing that the perp would come back. You didn't want to break the chain of evidence. Everything'll be okay. Anyway, there's nothing you can do about it now, you just have to be as supportive as you can, and help her get through this. If she's going to be okay, then she'll need all the support she can get. You have to focus on that now." He hung his head dejectedly.

"I know, Catherine, but I feel so guilty." Catherine put her arm around him and they settled down to wait.


	3. Chapter 3

Hi! Here's the next chap. R&R! oh and i still dont own anything...

* * *

"Gil Grissom and Catherine Willows?" Startled, Catherine looked up. 

"Yes. Is Sara going to be okay?"

"At the moment, we can't be sure. She hasn't stabilised and her blood pressure's dropped. Her chances are not improving. We have her hooked up to life support now, but I'm afraid that you won't be able to see her for at least the next twenty four hours" The doctor said, answering Grissom's unspoken question. "I suggest you go home and have a sleep and come back around this time tomorrow. You may be able to see her then."

"Thankyou, Doctor." Came Catherine's crisp voice. Grissom couldn't speak. His head fell into his hands and he slumped forward.

"Come on Grissom." Came a soothing voice in his ear. "I'll take you home"

* * *

Two hours later, when he had failed for the umpteenth time to fall asleep, Grissom got up and, with a sigh, grabbed his keys and wallet and headed for the X-Scream.

* * *

He knew he wasn't awake, but he also knew that the thoughts he was having were completely conscious. He was dimly aware of sirens and screams around him, and he could just barely feel the heavy weight of the rollercoaster car on top of him. He knew he was floating somewhere between unconsciousness and consciousness, but he didn't really care whether his body lived or died. His soul and spirit were already gone. Gone, along with the hope of ever seeing Sara again. Pictures were flashing before his eyes, and they were all of her. He saw her as she was when he first met her, he saw her in pain, and in happiness, he saw his jealousy when she was with Hank. Although he yearned with every fibre of his being for her to be okay, he knew, deep down, that she probably wouldn't be. And on that thought, Grissom lost consciousness.

* * *

He woke up to the sounds of beeps, and calm voices. His eyelids felt like lead, and he didn't try to pry them open. He just listened. He knew he was in the hospital, something about the smell of the place told him he was. He also knew that he was dead inside. Without her, he couldn't live. If she died, he knew he would too.

"Shhh, I think he's waking up!" Whispered a voice near his head. He couldn't place it, but he knew he'd heard that voice before. Groggily, he forced his eyes open, and Nick's face swam into view.

"Hey man, you gave us quite a scare!"

"Yeah, what the hell happened?" Came a second voice, as Warrick came into his line of vision. Grissom managed just a slight shake of his head. "Okay man, we'll go, but Catherine wants to see you" He moved his head up and down once, to signal 'okay'. The other two men nodded and left the room.

"Hi there. Good to see you're awake. You sure had us worried!" Said Catherine, as she walked in the door.

"What happened to me?" Grissom managed to croak.

"The X-Scream derailed. It rolled and you were trapped under the car. By the time they got you out, you were unconscious. The doctor says you can go home soon, they just want to keep you for a few hours for observation." Grissom gave a weak nod.

"Sara?" He asked, dreading the answer.

"Still the same, although she's stabilised a little bit. She's tough Grissom, she'll pull through. Doctor says if she continues to stabilise at the rate that she is now, we should be able to see her tomorrow. She's doing well, Grissom, as much as the odds were against her, she's still alive, and slowly recovering. In the meantime, you can stay right here for observation. I'll be back to see you in a few hours." Grissom nodded again. Catherine turned to leave.

"Catherine?" She turned back to him.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks." She smiled, and on that note, she left the room.

* * *

Three hours later, Dr Newing walked in to see Grissom

"Okay Dr Grissom, I can't let you go until tomorrow, we're obliged to keep you here under observation." Meekly, Grissom nodded in response.

"How's Sara?"

"Well, she's improved ever so slightly, but still completely dependant on the life support we have hooked up to her." He nodded again.

"Can I see her?"

"Well, she's actually in the room next to you, but you can't see her until you're discharged."

"Okay."

* * *

Back at the lab, Warrick and Catherine were pouring over the evidence for the case Grissom and Sara had been working on.

"Catherine?"

"Yeah?"

"I got a print and DNA!"

"Really? Go give it to Greg." Warrick ran down the hall and skidded to a stop outside Greg's lab. He walked in quickly.

"Hey man, how's it goin'?"

"Never mind Greg, just tell me who this print belongs to, and make it snappy!"

"Okay, okay." Quickly, he loaded it the print into AFIS and the DNA into CODIS and fired the machines up. He stood and went to collect the printouts.

"Hey Warrick? Whose print and DNA were you expecting to get?

"Why?"

"Because I'm pretty sure you didn't want Grissom's."

"Grissom?"

"Yeah" he said after looking at the printout again. "This is definitely Grissom's print. And the DNA matches. One in ten billion chance that it's not Grissom's. Where did you find them?"

"On the murder weapon." The two men looked at each other in shock. Warrick took the printouts from Greg and strode up the hall, back to Catherine.

"Well?"

"Grissom. This is Grissom's print, and his DNA too!"

"No way! But we found those on the murder weapon!"

"I know. I think we need to go and talk to Grissom." As they were walking towards the doors, Greg met them in the hallway.

"Hey guys, I identified the vic Mrs. Vanessa Jones. Female Caucasian aged 47. Wife of a Mr Frank Jones."

"Thanks Greg." Catherine muttered distractedly, taking the sheet of paper from him. She and Warrick walked out the doors and got into the Tahoe.

"Time to pay our boss a visit." Said Warrick in a grim voice, without the barest hint of a smile.

* * *

"Hi guys." Grissom said gloomily from his bed as they walked into the room. "How's the investigation going?"

"That's what we wanted to talk to you about, actually." Warrick replied. "Grissom, why is your fingerprint and DNA on the murder weapon?" Grissom's eyes widened.

"What?"

"Your print and DNA are on the murder weapon Grissom." Catherine repeated slowly. "Why?"

"I don't know. I had latex gloves on when I touched that weapon. There's no reason for my print OR my DNA to be on that knife."

"Maybe not, but they're there all the same." Grissom slumped back on to the pillows. Warrick took this as a signal to the end of the conversation, so he and Catherine said goodbye and left. Grissom was left to his own thoughts. Suddenly, as panic took over, he fell back, hitting his head on the bed side table and blacking out.


	4. Chapter 4

Here's the next chap, guys! Thanx for the reviews! Next chap should be up by monday latest. Love Dip

I still own nothing (sigh)

* * *

"There is no way that Grissom is our perp."

"Well, it was his print and DNA. I don't believe it either, but who else could it be?"

"I dunno, the husband? Look, I just know it wasn't Grissom. I mean, just say it was him…he would have been smart enough to wear latex gloves, and to know not to sneeze on the weapon. Which, I might point out, was left at the scene by someone careless or stupid or BOTH, and as stupid as he is around Sara, Grissom is smart enough to know to take the murder weapon, if he has a motive, means and opportunity, NONE of which he has at the moment. We just have the print and the DNA, which could've been planted. I reckon the wife was cheating on the husband, and he found out, so he killed her."

"And Grissom's print? Not to mention the DNA. Be reasonable Catherine"

"I don't know, Warrick, I just don't think it was Grissom. I just know it wasn't."

"I hope you're right Catherine"

Grissom could see Sara. Not the Sara that was wounded and dying, the happy, healthy, alive Sara that he had, against his will, come to care for more than anyone else. He could see her, but it was a younger her, a her that was about sixteen years old. But he had never seen this Sara before, so how could he remember her? Then it hit him, and he knew why could see these memories. He knew that in the room next to him, Sara was seeing the same thing. These weren't his thoughts. They were Sara's. But he couldn't see the pictures anymore, they were just flashes of colour, but he could sense the mood of the young woman in them. Happy, Sad, Angry, Depressed, and then, finally, hurt. At that moment, pain like he hadn't felt in years shot through his body. Again, he knew that next door, Sara was going through the same pain. Suddenly, he knew it was very important that he was awake, so he forced himself into consciousness. He woke up and quickly struggled to press the button for the nurse. She came, running.

"What is it?"

"Next door. Sara…trouble" He managed groggily. The nurse frowned, and felt his forehead. Impatiently, he brushed her hand aside. "Not…me." He gasped. "Sara." He said again as wave after wave of terrible pain shot through him, like a red hot iron rod. "SARA" He said again. The nurse frowned again, but left the room, figuring that she would just leave to calm him down, check on Sara, and then come back and convince him that he was okay. As she walked into the next room however, she ran to the bedside, stifling a scream. Quickly, she pressed the emergency call button on the side of Sara's bed, then leant over to check her pulse. Three doctors came rushing in, and upon seeing the state of her, sprang into action. One ran for more help, another instructed the nurse as to what medication to go and get, and the third studied the heart monitor with a single minded focus. The next few minutes were hell for Grissom, who was lying there in the next bed. All he could do was hear the noise and confusion from the next door. He heard someone yell "Clear" a couple of times, and then the pain in him began to subside. A wave of calmness swept over him as he felt the pain leave. Sara was going to be okay. He knew that as the pain subsided in him, it subsided in Sara as well. She was going to be okay…this time.

Half an hour later, Dr Newing came in, with a grave face. This face, however, also carried a hint of relief. Just then, Grissom noticed the four figures standing behind her.

"Hi guys" He managed weakly. Catherine, Warrick, Nick and Greg all smiled tentatively back at him.

"Mr Grissom, Elle told me what happened. She said you called her and told her that Sara was in trouble. When she walked in next door, Ms Sidle's heart and breathing was failing, but thanks to her quick action we have Ms Sidle stabilised again." Weakly, Grissom nodded his head. "Mr Grissom, how did you know that she was in trouble?"

"I could…feel it."

"Do you mean you just knew that she was in pain? A sixth sense maybe?" Grissom shook his head

"I could feel it…so much pain, so much, burning my body." He said, his eyes closed.

"You could literally feel pain? That's how you knew she was in trouble? You could feel it too?" This time, Grissom didn't shake his head. Slowly, he nodded. Catherine gasped. "Did you have any trouble breathing?" Grissom shook his head again.

"When I was asleep, I could see her thoughts. I could see everything that she could see. Then I could feel everything she could feel…" He stopped dead still, poised as if listening, but a strange glazed look in his eyes. "She's awake." He murmured.

When Catherine walked in next door, she looked at Sara in shock. The other woman was pale and weak, she had lost infinite amounts of weight, and the cuts, scratches and bruises all over her face made her look…not even human. Catherine stared, unable to say a word. Slowly, Sara's eyes opened, and widened when she finally focused on the woman in front of her. She was unable to talk or move, but Catherine could tell from her eyes that Sara recognised her. "Hello Sara." Catherine said, softly. "Grissom told us you were awake." A look of confusion flashed through Sara's eyes, and Catherine answered her unvoiced question. "He's in the room next to you. He was on the X-Scream and it derailed. He ended up in here, unconscious. "He's been worried sick about you. He'll come in to see you once he's been discharged…but I think it'll be a while yet because of what happened…this morning." Again, confusion crossed Sara's features. "You didn't feel it? I guess not. You were unconscious after all. Anyway, he woke up and called the nurse. He told her you were in trouble. She didn't believe him, but came in here to check on you to calm him down. When she came in your heart was failing and you weren't breathing. A few more minutes and you would've been gone." Another look crossed Sara's features then, and it took a while for Catherine to decipher it, but when she did, the other woman gasped. Pain. "Pain?" She asked so quietly is was almost like breathing . The look on Sara's face was conformation enough. "Sara, Grissom felt the pain too. Physically the doctors can't find anything wrong with him, but he could feel it, almost as badly as you could. That's what I think any way. That's how he knew you were in trouble. He could feel it too. About twenty seconds ago he told us you were awake. So I come running in here and it turns out that you are! Sara, he also said he could see your thoughts. Since Eddie died I've stopped believing in soul mates and that sort of thing, but Sara…I honestly believe that you and Grissom have something unbreakable. It's like…I don't know, like you're connected by something that words could never say. There's not enough time in the world to express what you have in words, but it's so powerful that it knocks us all over. I thought I loved Eddie, but now I've see how much he cares about you Sara, and I've realised that I had nothing, compared to what Grissom has for you. I know this won't mean much coming from me, but he really loves you Sara. The last couple of days have really shown that to him. " And with that, Catherine left the room, quietly closing the door behind her.

The next day, Grissom was discharged from the hospital. Sara was in as critical condition as ever, but Grissom had improved, so the hospital decided he could go, so long as he came in daily for check ups. Of course, now he was free to see Sara. The doctors were being cautiously optimistic about Sara. She was slowly improving and her body was healing. It would be a long time before she was well again though. As soon as Grissom was discharged, he went to see Sara. As he walked in to the room, a lone tear fell down his cheek.

"Sara, I'm so sorry." And with that, Grissom slumped down the single chair next to her bed, and his head fell into his hands. "This is all my fault…if you had died…" He knew that for now, that would have to do. Another word and he knew he'd have an emotional breakdown, so instead he reached out and placed his hand over her smaller, much paler one.

At that moment, as she looked into his eyes, she understood completely. She could see everything in those eyes. Those bright blue, usually expressionless eyes. Usually they were blank, but occasionally he'd let the shadow of an emotion flash through them. This was no shadow. There was only one emotion in his eyes now, and he wasn't trying to hide it. Love. Catherine had said it, but Sara hadn't really believed her, as Catherine was well aware. But Sara had no choice now. She had to believe this. Those eyes, like dark blue bottomless pools, didn't lie. And now they were screaming one thing. Love. Just then, Grissom must have sensed that she could see through him, because he got up and walked towards the door. As his hand was turning the handle, he stopped, and turned.

"I love you Sara." And then he was gone.


	5. Chapter 5

Here's the next chappie! Thanks for al the great reviews so far! Luv you all!

* * *

Over the next week and a half, Grissom visited Sara every day. She was still improving. Since yesterday, she was starting to get her speech back. Looking back, Grissom remembered the very last part of his visit yesterday, smiling.

"_Well I have to go now, but I'll be back to see you again tomorrow, okay?" In response, Sara smiled and waved. She knew what was coming. Every time he came to see her, he would say the same thing, just as he was leaving the room. "Sara?" She looked at him. "I love you." She smiled again. He'd said it eight times now, but every time it sent a shiver up her spine, just as much as the time before._

"_Grissom?" She said tentatively. He paused, then spun around so fast he was in danger of knocking himself out. She could understand it, this was the first time she'd spoken since the accident. _

"_Yes?"_

"_I love you too." _

He'd had something else to tell her, but he decided to wait until she was better. Those last words had been such a shock, and he hadn't stopped smiling all night. Actually, thinking back, he had, Catherine had had something to say that knocked that smile right into oblivion.

"We still have no evidence of anyone at the crime scene but you Grissom. We have one more print, it doesn't belong to the victim or you that we found at the crime scene, but AFIS didn't know whose it was." She said hesitantly. "I know it wasn't you, I believe you, really I do, it's just that we need someone else to convict. If no one else shows up, I'm gonna have to arrest you."

"Look Catherine," He said in a defeated voice. "I don't know. It wasn't me, but I have no alibi and you have no other suspect. Looks like it's gonna be me huh?"

"Grissom, we will prove your innocence, but it's just taking a little longer than I expected. I can't even tell you about the case in case we've missed something, because you're the main suspect." Then suddenly, something occurred to him.

"Catherine, is there a chance that Sara saw her attacker?"

"Yes, but Grissom, we can't be sure it was the same person, and we have no way to communicate with her, she can't tal…" But just then she was distracted by Grissom, who was shaking his head so violently she was worried that he'd dislocate it.

"No Catherine, yesterday when I was with her, she spoke! She talked to me. We can communicate with her now."

"GRISSOM!" Catherine exclaimed. "WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?" she yelled at him in an exasperated voice. He shrugged.

"I forgot. Sorry." But his apology was unheard as Catherine was already running towards her car. Grissom hurried to catch up. "Catherine, what exactly are you gonna do?"

"Clear your name!"

"But we have no proof that they were the same person!"

"Yes, but if we can nail this guy on abuse to Sara, then we can get his prints, and if they match the one found at the scene of the crime, then we have enough to get a warrant!"

"That's a long shot Catherine."

"Yeah, but it might pay off."

Ten minutes later, Grissom and Catherine were walking into the hospital. The receptionist mentioned straight away for Grissom to go upstairs without even asking what he wanted. He nodded, and led Catherine straight to the elevator.

"Care to explain?"

"I've been coming here every day since I was discharged. The receptionist knows who I am, and who I'm here to see."

"God Grissom, _every_ day?"

"Yes Catherine. Every day."

"Wow!"

"Thankyou. Ah, here we are" And with that he confidently led Catherine straight through the maze of wards until they were standing outside the room that Sara was in. "Shall I go in first?" Catherine nodded.

"Just tell her I'm here. I'll go in when you're done." With a nod, Grissom opened the door and slipped quietly in to the room.

As soon as he walked in to the room, he could sense that something was wrong. He couldn't feel pain this time, but something inside of him told him that Sara was, once again, in trouble. He strode over to the bed. She wasn't breathing. Quickly, he pressed the call button for the nurse three times to signal an emergency, then ran to the door and yanked it open. Catherine was waiting outside. Upon seeing his face, she didn't ask questions, just ran inside the room. The next thing he knew, he and Catherine were being shepherded outside the room, and the door banged shut behind them. Suddenly, everything was quiet, of course there was noise coming from inside the room, but it seemed silent compared to the panic of thirty seconds ago. Catherine led Grissom over to a bench, where he promptly leant against her and shook. She didn't let him go all night.

They were once again seated inside Dr Newing's office, and once again she was telling them how bad Sara's chances were.

"She was doing well, but that was a relapse, which is not good. She's gone into a coma, and we are trying as hard as we can to bring her out of it. She's once again completely dependant on life support, and whilst ever she's in her current state, we have little hope for her at all. I am obliged to tell you that the most likely outcome of this is death, but it's likely that if she doesn't die, she'll be permanently incapacitated. If this happens she'll be completely dependant on others, and the life support. She'll be alive, but in this coma for the rest of her natural life. Of course, she would have named a person in her medical records, that, should this happen, can make the decision to turn the life support off. I'll have to check, but for most people, it's their next of kin." Grissom looked horrified, but nodded.

"Sara has a brother." Catherine gently took his hand, and led him out of the office. When he woke up that afternoon, that was all he could remember.

The next morning, when Grissom woke up, it took him a minute to remember why he was so worried and depressed. Then the events of the last day washed over him, and as soon as they did, he wished they hadn't. It wasn't unusual now for him to get sudden flashes of pain or emotion that weren't his. He got them at least twice a day now. After that day at the hospital, it didn't take a genius to figure out that those moments of pain and emotion were moments he shared with Sara. It didn't matter where he was, everything would suddenly blur, and he would think "God, not again."

Then it would hit. Usually it was emotion, and those he could deal with. But the pain…the pain was unbearable. It felt like millions of red hot knives were piercing his body, and he would just crumple to the ground in pain. Dimly, he knew that for Sara, the pain must be worse, because he could only feel a tiny percentage of what she could feel, but the pain he got was bad enough. Then the pain would suddenly stop, and he'd pull himself together, shaking. Then he'd take a minute to feel sympathy for Sara, because he knew how bad it must be for her. He also had a feeling that he could feel these things when they were particularly strong. The emotions didn't happen as often now, after her relapse, but the pain was happening more and more often. Now it was getting up to four times a day. Either his link with Sara was getting stronger, or she was dying. Personally, though he yearned for it to be otherwise, he thought it was most likely the latter. That afternoon he was in the break room, giving a briefing, when another of these flashes of pain hit him, this one particularly bad. When he recovered later, he found himself on the floor under the table. He quickly straightened up, and fell back into his chair. He was shivering violently. The next thing he knew, Catherine was kneeling next to him.

"Grissom, are you okay?"

"I will be in a minute Catherine." He replied, smiling weakly. He was still shivering. She looked at him sceptically. "Catherine, I'll be fine. This happens all the time. Just give me a minute." Then he realised, this had never happened at work before. No one except for him knew what had just happened, and they were probably scared. He looked around. They all had identical faces. Faces of fear. "Guys, I'm fine. This is nothing new for me. That was just…particularly painful." He looked up at them. Now they looked confused, so he continued. "It's Sara. When she's in particularly sharp pain I can feel it. We share it. We have…a connection I suppose. Anyway, she was just in a hell of a lot of pain, so I felt it, but on a smaller scale. It's nothing, I'll be fine." Nick was gaping at him.

"So you guys have some sort of strange, telepathic connection thing?" He exclaimed.

"Yeah, I suppose you could call it." He stopped and thought, his eyes glazing over. Suddenly, they snapped back into focus. "She's okay now, in case anyone's worried." He murmured, getting more and more embarrassed by the minute.

"How the hell do you know that?" Catherine demanded. He shrugged.

"I can sense it. She's okay. Can we get back business please?"

The doctors said she couldn't hear it, but he always said it anyway.

"I love you Sara." He said softly, before closing the door slowly and quietly behind him. Out in the hallway however, he was swiftly intercepted by Elle, and chauffeured into Dr Newing's study. For the third time, he sat down in front of that big mahogany desk, and faced a very grave looking woman.

"Dr Grissom…"

"Grissom." He interrupted, with a smoothness he didn't feel.

"Grissom," She started again. "I have some bad news for you. I have just received the test results, and it is clear that Ms Sidle is fast heading into dangerous territory. If she does not begin to improve within the next 24 hours then she'll become permanently incapacitated. Basically, that means that with time, she'll be able to understand us again, but she won't be able to move or talk. She will depend on the life support machines. Her brain will work much slower, and eventually, it will shut down completely, leaving her life in our hands. So long as she's hooked up to life support, she'll still be alive, but brain-dead. This could happen next week, it could happen in 50 years time. The point is that it WILL happen, and when it does, one person will make the decision to switch off the life support. In Sara's case, this person isn't someone in her family. It's you."

For the next 24 hours, Grissom didn't leave the hospital. He called into work and spoke to Catherine.

"I can't come in tonight Catherine."

"Sara?"

"Yes."

"Okay Grissom, I'll cover for you."

"Thankyou Catherine."

"No problem." After that, Grissom sat down to wait. 24 hours came and went, and by the 36th hour, Grissom was losing hope. He spent another few hours in the waiting room, then went to see Dr Newing. One look at the woman's face when he saw her was conformation enough. Without a word being exchanged, he turned around and walked out the door again.

The next month, Grissom went to see Sara every day. The doctors told him that they didn't think Sara could hear him, but he knew differently. He trusted the flashes of Sara's thoughts better than any doctor, and they confirmed that she could hear him, and was beginning to understand. He knew she knew who he was, and for the moment, that was enough. Once he even got a flash of Sara's thoughts while he was with her. He saw himself, exactly as he was. That was the conformation he needed. He knew than that these WERE Sara's thoughts, and they showed him that mentally, she was improving. Only slightly, and she was almost at the best she could hope to get, but she was improving. Grissom now knew that she could understand most of the things he said to her, and was connecting some things with others. For someone who was permanently incapacitated, she was doing well. She'd never be okay, he knew that now, but she was managing. At the end of the visit a month later, Grissom said the same thing that he always said. "I love you Sara." With that he closed the door. He was getting into his car when he had another of those flashes of Sara's emotions. This was stronger than anything he'd ever felt before, even the pain. As soon as he saw it he knew what it was. He jumped out of the car and sprinted back inside the building, without even locking it. He ran faster than he'd ever run in his life, up 6 flights of stairs, until he was outside Sara's room. At the door however, something told him he should stop and listen. He pressed his ear against the door and heard a male voice that he couldn't place. He thought he'd heard it somewhere before, years ago, it was vaguely familiar, but he had no idea where.

* * *

Now,I have a proposition! Obviously Sara is in big trouble, the question is, will she live ordie? Thats up to you guys. Review and tell me whatyou want, and i'll go with the majority. This does, of course, mean that the next chap will take a while to be up, cause iv'e gotta gve you all time to review!Please tell me what you want written! Love you all, Dip.


	6. Chapter 6

Here you go! I'm sorry it took so long and i'm sorry it's so short. I had so much trouble with this chapter it's not funny. Anyway, on with the story!

* * *

"So you see, you weren't supposed to live. Your death was supposed to get him where it would hurt most. He's never been in love before, you see, but I invited him to my house a few months back and you were all he talked about. Sara, Sara, Sara. So, I figured that you were the best way to hurt him. That's why I came after you. To get him. _I _should be the one who sits up there in the 'supervisor' chair on the night shift. That should have been ME! Instead it was him. I figured, why not kill two birds with one stone? So I planted his DNA and fingerprints on the weapon I used to murder my wife. Once he gets arrested, I can have this job." At that, Grissom recognised the voice. Frank Jones. His arch nemesis in high school. Grissom was the only person in the state to beat Frank in the HSC for science, chemistry and biology to be exact. Grissom took more science units than that, and topped the state in every one of them, but Frank came second. Frank didn't want second. He wanted first. But Grissom had first. Grissom knew then that this was aimed at him. Sara had suffered all this…for him, and neither of them new it until just now. But Grissom had to stop this tirade of thoughts, because Frank was speaking again.

"So now, I'm going to flick this switch. This one, right here, that keeps your life support running. You're the only person on this planet who can incriminate me, and we can't have that now can we? No. So, I'm gonna pull this switch, and finish the job I started a month and a half ago. You're gonna die for your darling Grissom, and there's nothing you can do to stop me! Ha ha, here I go, are you watching?" Right at that moment, Grissom burst through the door.

"Oh, I don't know Frank, do you really want to do that?" Frank whipped around, and upon seeing Grissom, a look of uttermost hatred flashed across his features. He was so intent on watching Grissom's face that he didn't notice the mobile phone that was quietly ringing Brass behind Grissom's back. "Sara, are you okay?" He asked, not for Sara's sake, but for Brass's. Content that Brass now knew where to find him, he turned back to Frank.

"So you did this to get at me?"

"Yes. With you out of the way, I could have your job, like I was supposed to. So…" Grissom notices that his hand is still on the life support switch. "So…now you can watch while I kill the only person you love Gil.

"Leave her out of this Frank. You don't want her. Let her go. I'll resign. You can have my job. Just please, please, leave her alone." A grin spread slowly over the other man's face.

"Ahhh, but Gil, what would be the fun in that? If I kill her, it will make your life hell. AND, on top of that, I will STILL get your job. Don't you see? This way is so much more destructive. It will completely ruin you. You'll be a shell. That's what I want. So here I go, I'm gonna flick this switch Gil." He turned slightly, and reached for the life support machine.

Sara had been floating in and out of the conversation for several minutes now. As hard as she was trying to stay focused on it, she was having trouble. She knew enough, however, to get the general gist of what was going on. She knew that this guy, she couldn't remember his name, was just about to kill her, but then Grissom came in. And then they were talking, and then… Grissom was going to give up his job for her! He was going to resign, just so she could live! Just as she began to fully comprehend this, she was distracted by a very loud, sudden noise. Then there was a large thud as something heavy hit the floor. She looked over at Grissom, who was shaking slightly, with a grimace on his face. Held out in front of him, was his handgun. He sank to the floor next to her bed, shaking. He leant against her mattress in an attempt to steady himself. Next thing Sara knew, nurses, doctors and police officers were running into her room. She barely noticed them however, for she had eyes only for the shuddering man slumped against her bed.


End file.
